National Gallery of Art 2009 Film Program Enters Fall Season With Dynamic Line-Up Including D.C. Film Premieres

WASHINGTON, DC.- This fall, the National Gallery of Art's film program provides a great variety of work, including area premieres combined with musical performances and appearances by noted film directors, as well as vibrant film series devoted to postwar "British noir" and the American expatriate director Joseph Losey, whose centennial is celebrated this year.

Among the film events, on October 4, director Ulrike Ottinger will appear at the Washington premiere of The Korean Wedding Chest to discuss her film about the elegant, ancient tradition of the Korean wedding rite. On October 31, Catia Ott will introduce her film Tevere (Tiber), a cinematic exploration of Rome's famous river that reveals relics, surprises, and obscure spots that have inspired generations of artists.

Eight recent works will be shown as part of the National Gallery's film series New Films From Hungary: Selections from Magyar Filmszemle, including the October 10 Washington premiere of White Palmsa feature film directed by Szabolcs Hajdu, inspired by his younger brother's life as a gymnast. Iván Angelusz, a founding member of Katapult Film Ltd., along with artists Ferenc Török and Diana Groó will speak about this dynamic collective of filmmakers and the cinematic talent emerging from Hungary today.

Director Kazimierz Kutz, one of Poland's most revered postwar cinematic auteurs, will speak on October 18 in conjunction with the screening of Salt of the Black Earth, part one of his Silesian Trilogy that also includes Pearl in the Crown and The Beads of One Rosary. The trilogy will be shown in its entirety by the close of the month.

On December 6, distinguished film historian, theorist, and professor of visual arts at Princeton University P. Adams Sitney will present an illustrated lecture titled American Visionary Filmmakers and the Heritage of Emerson. Professor Sitney will discuss American avant-garde cinema as the fulfillment of the promise of an American aesthetic, an idea that was first defined by Ralph Waldo Emerson in 1836.